Halloween Fun!

Alivia loved Halloween this year. She loves pumpkins and candy the most! Here's a look at the fun we had over a couple of weeks.

Halloween package from Grandma Clove

Writing notes to Aunt Amalie

Abram's work had their fall festival

Livi painted pumpkins. I had no idea how much she would love it.

Both of her masterpieces

We dressed her up as an 80's workout girl for our ward Trunk or Treat

And Aunt Amalie sent Alivia some fun stickers and pumpkins in response to her card. Livi loved them.

It's been a really long, hard couple of months but this little girl brings so much joy to my life. I am far from a perfect mom but I am working on having more patience and enjoying the time I have with her.

Fall Fun with Cousins!

With a couple of aunts and some cousins in town for a visit, we decided to tag along with them for some fall fun. I've been trying to convince myself it was fall but with the temperature in the high 80s it has been hard! It was a fun weekend packed full of pumpkin patches, sushi dinner, and the Arboretum! Livi loved the attention and playing with all of the cousins.

On Friday we went to a pumpkin patch and enjoyed a hay ride, bounce house fun and a lot of pumpkins!

Enjoying the breeze on the hay ride.

Livi and Clove playing on a train!

Livi's first experience in a bounce house with her cousin Betsy.

She spent a good 20 minutes moving the pumpkins all over this cute house!

With some help from Clove.

Laura and Aislyn are the cutest older cousins! Always willing to help Alivia out!

All of the cousins at the pumpkin patch...minus me!

Abram had the day off on Monday and we all went to the Dallas Arboretum!

Love these two!

Finally a picture of this cute girl smiling!

Alivia is in love with pumpkins!

Rare picture of Alivia and I!

Cousin pictures!

Susan and Malinda with their cute little ones!

All of the girls!

We all loved spending time with family and acting like it was fall!

Washington fun!

We decided to take advantage of Alivia flying free one last time and go out to Washington for Labor Day weekend. Abram had always wanted to go to the Puyallup Fair. His family goes every year and every year we lived in Utah he was in school and couldn't get away for it. We spent the week hanging out and spending time with family.

We flew in to Seattle and Abram's parents and Amalie picked us up. They took us to Pike Place. (I'm awesome and didn't take pictures). 

Hiking the streets of Seattle

I really love Washington! It's so beautiful!

Enjoying yummy ice cream in Leavenworth

Grammy and Livi...and yes that is her second ice cream.

Livi loved playing outside with Aunt Amalie!

Grammy took us to a petty zoo and fun little store.

There was very little petting that happened. This is the closest she would get to the animals.

Abram made some progress on his truck while we were there. 

The past year or two I've gotten really into doing family history. I have been mostly working on Abram's Grandma Clay's side of the family. She worked really hard at trying to find her ancestors while she was alive and put binders of information together. Grandpa Clay was nice enough to answer some of the questions that I had and let me take some of the information with me to work on for the week. Thanks to Abram's mom for helping me sort it out and enter the information we found!

Family pictures with Grandpa Clay

4 generations

Picture of everyone in the room! Thanks Aunt Karol for taking them!

At the end of the week we were off to the fair. Most of Abram's Dad's siblings were there and it was fun to hang out with them for the day!

I love this girl!!

And this one too! The second picture is us dancing to some music at the fair!

We ended the week going to a family reunion of Grandma Clay's siblings and cousins. It was fun to meet some of the people that we had been entering information for all week and to connect with some family that might have some more answers! It never feels like the trip is long enough and it's hard getting back to real life! 

Everyone has trials

In the last month or two we had a lesson at church on trials. The teacher asked us to write down trials that we had in our lives. I ended up sitting there and thinking for a long time and not writing anything down. What did I honestly have to complain about. Yes, I felt like I had trials in my life. Dealing with a toddler is exhausting and I get frustrated way too easily. But when it came down to it, I felt that my trials were too small to complain about when I knew that most of the people in the room we're dealing with the same thing. There are people out there dealing with a death of a loved one, unemployment, sicknesses and the list could go on and on. And what do I have to complain about? That Alivia is throwing crayons all over the playroom or says mom a million times in a row when I am trying to eat my dinner because she needs me to take the empty plate off her tray right that second? (Yes, these examples of some things that annoyed me today). When it comes down to it though Abram has a good job, we just bought a house, and we have a healthy, very active little girl!

After being married for 7 years I guess it was time for a trial. Three weeks ago we went to the doctor expecting to see the first ultrasound of baby number 2. The appointment didn't go exactly as planned. The doctor told us that the baby had stopped growing a couple of weeks before that and they couldn't find a heartbeat. I was having a miscarriage. 

The next couple of days were a whirlwind of emotions. I would be fine one minute and crying the next. I couldn't pray without crying. It didn't matter if it was a prayer before Alivia's lunch or our family prayers before bed. I didn't feel like it was because I was angry at God or felt like he didn't care. It was because I have a hard time asking for help. For the first time in my life I really felt like I needed help and strength.

I am lucky to have amazing friends and family that gave words of encouragement and advice. They sent me notes in the mail, took me out to dinner, listened to me complain, offered to bring in meals or watch Livi, and brought me care packages. I have awesome in-laws who took care of Livi so I could rest most of our trip in Washington. And I'm lucky to have an amazing husband who is always there for me, even in the middle of the night when I couldn't stop crying.

I know that everything happens for a reason. I still have hard days but I'm working on finding how this can strengthen our family and not dwell on the unfairness, anger and all of the other negative feelings I could see so easily taking over me.

One of the biggest things that I have learned from this is that everyone has trials. It doesn't matter how big or small they are. Don't let yourself think that your trials are too small to have anyone care about. You don't have to go through it alone.

Prescott Family Reunion!

At the end of July my mom's family had a family reunion. We were happy to be able to see all of the family for a few days and make some fun memories! We stayed in Eden and had fun playing games, going to the lake, and going to Ogden!

Playing football with Grandma

Livi loves playing with any kind of ball (current favorite is kicking soccer balls though)

Flying kites is fun too!

I need to invest in a little one like this so she can run around at home!

Livi with Great Grandma and Grandpa Prescott. Someday she will smile in the picture.

Livi's cousin Calvin is 3 weeks older and is super cute! He just wanted to be Livi's friend and as you can see she has a major attitude!

Loved being able to see my cousin's family!

Alivia loves anything that has to do with water but she cried every time we took her out of the "boat".

One day we went to Ogden and went to the Railroad Museum.

Alivia loved the play room where she could play with the train set.

And do one of her other favorites...playing with tools.

I love these two!!

4 generations

All of the Prescott family minus Mike, Wilma, and Emily!

(photo credit to Kim!)

It was fun to be able to see so much family this summer! We miss seeing everyone more often.